Two years later, devices are getting updated to Lollipop, a 5.5-inch screen is dangerously close to being considered average, the Pebble is looking a little dated next to the new kid on the block, and Instagram has finally introduced five more filters.

If you want to take square snapshots and apply (sometimes) garish filters to them, there is only one choice—Instagram. The Intsagram app for Android is getting an update today to v6.10 with a few smallish feature additions. Well, heavy users of Instagram will think they're pretty great.

Alert! Alert! If you use Instagram's Android app, complete strangers could be looking at your photos of appetizers and makeup techniques right now! ...which is kind of the point of Instagram, I suppose. But security researcher Mazin Ahmed discovered that the app uses standard HTTP to transmit photos, cookies, and authentication (including usernames and unique IDs), instead of the encrypted HTTPS protocol. As Mr. Mackie is so fond of saying, that's bad.

Hey, Minus, are you guys alright? Because you're demonstrating the developer equivalent of multiple personality disorder. Sixteen months after Dropbox-style cloud storage app Minus shifted 180 degrees to take aim at Instagram, it has once again become a completely different service, this time with a new name. Minus is now "Meow," a randomized chat client, sort of like Omegle or Chatroulette without the video. All that's left of the latest Minus re-brand, or indeed the original storage app, is the "com.minus.android" APK name.

I know the readers of AP (along with the staff) have very mixed feelings about Instagram. Over the last several months, I've personally started to use the photo-based network more and more, even if only for browsing images of guitars (seriously, there are some sexy axes on the ol' IG). I've grown to enjoy it quite a bit.

However, there's been a dramatic lack of any photo editing outside of the included filters that IG is already known for.

For an app people use so heavily, the official Instagram app for Android has been a bit of a UI disaster since it launched back in 2012. It's about to be much better today with the release of version 5.1. The design is cleaner and flatter with a bit of an Android vibe. It's not super-holo, but it's a start.

It's been a pretty big year for Instagram. So far, it has released several big new features including video and people tagging. To end 2013 on a high note, Instagram announced today that it is launching Instagram Direct - a new private sharing feature. Highlights include:

The ability to share photos privately with up to 15 people.

See who has seen, liked, and commented on your privately-shared photo in real time.

Do you find that Instagram, Hipstamatic, and all the other me-too photography apps out there just aren't doing it for you? Then why not try VSCO Cam, the most anticipated iOS camera app port among Pabst Blue Ribbon drinkers and fedora enthusiasts! Here, let's check out this promotional video so we can get a quick look at all the impressive features offered in this exciting new app.

Like most social networks, Instagram doesn't cost a cent to use, but it costs billions of them to own and run. Facebook paid a pretty penny to acquire the network last year, and the time has come to recoup those costs. Soon Instagram will start dishing out ads in the middle of your feed, and it will do so in a way Facebook users should already be familiar with.

The rollout is expected to take place over the next couple of months to users in the US, at which point they will start seeing the occasional ad pop up in their Instagram feeds.